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Royalty and Ruin
the spirits of the weary fugitive, and he asked that he might die. But
when hope was gone and his lifework seemed threatened with defeat,
he learned the possibility of trusting God under circumstances that
seemed the most unlikely to turn out well.
Those who, while spending their life energies in self-sacrificing
labor, are tempted to give way to hopelessness may gather courage
from the experience of Elijah. God’s watchful care, His love, His
power, are especially revealed in behalf of His servants when people
reject their counsels and reproofs and repay their efforts toward
reform with hatred and opposition.
At the time of greatest weakness Satan attacks the believer with
the fiercest temptations. In this way he hoped to prevail over the Son
of God, for by this method he had gained many victories over others.
When willpower weakened and faith failed, then those who had
stood long and valiantly for the right yielded to temptation. Wearied
with forty years of wandering and unbelief, Moses failed just on the
borders of the Promised Land. Elijah had maintained his trust in
Jehovah during the years of drought, but in a moment of weariness
he allowed the fear of death to overcome his faith in God.
So it is today. When we are awash in doubt or afflicted by
poverty or distress, Satan seeks to shake our confidence in Jehovah.
He tempts us to distrust God, to question His love. He hopes to
discourage us and break our hold on God.
Those who stand in the forefront of the conflict will frequently
feel a reaction when the pressure is off. Discouragement may shake
the faith and weaken the will. But God understands. He still pities
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and loves. He reads the motives of the heart. To wait patiently, to
trust when everything looks dark, is the lesson that leaders in God’s
work need to learn. Heaven will not fail them in tribulation. Nothing
is apparently more helpless, yet really more invincible, than the soul
that feels its nothingness and relies entirely on God.
He who was Elijah’s strength is well able to uphold every strug-
gling child of His, no matter how weak. To everyone He grants
power according to the need. In the might of God we may overcome
evil and help others to overcome. Satan can never gain advantage
over us if we make God our defense.
Satan knows your weakness; therefore cling to Jesus. The righ-
teousness of Christ can give you power to turn back the tide of evil